Dying Leaves

The stark beauty of autumn leaves gives me mixed emotions.

On one hand, they command, perhaps, the most attention of their 8-9 month existence during this particular season. Gold, scarlet, maize, beet red, tangerine: colors that stir your soul. 

On the other, the cause of their beauty is really only because they are, in fact, on their way out.  They are dying. Their lifeblood, tree sap, is shrinking from the cold (like the rest of us), retreating into the roots for a long winter's nap. Leave it to cold-hearted science to nonchalantly explain away what otherwise is a fireworks display of beauty.

It set me to thinking: death was never God's original plan. All of the brilliant colors of fall were represented in some other fashion in nature before Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The garden of Eden was not in need of improvement. Nature was in no way enhanced by the entrance of sin; quite the opposite: it was cursed.

But God is not simply the Creator. He is the Great Innovator, Master of Improvisation. In a sense, the Supernatural Fix-It Man. He can take whatever materials are in front of Him and create miracles with them. The leaves are indeed dying. Yet even in their death, God reminds us (in their colors) that the sun will rise on a new creation. The striking shades of their earthly exits are a divine promise of a coming spring; the elements of a potential miracle.

I think the Apostle Paul may have loved autumn the best, because he recognized that the power of life comes in parting with it. I live only when I die. As my life leaves me and I die to my desires, I make room in this shriveling leaf for the blood of Jesus Christ to flow through me, bringing with it the power to be the son of God that I long to be.

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:10  

Comments

[Tim Delello]

I preached a message on this very topic a few years ago. I cannot believe you would preach my sermon! Oh..wait...you mean...mine wasn't original either? *sigh*.

http://victorybiblebaptistchurch.com/september_18.htm

[Chad]

I love fall leaves, even if they are for a brief, few days. I've thought about the symbolism of the seasons and your words add to my appreciation of them and God's amazing ways. God bless and sorry I didn't get to talk to you Wednesday. You'll be missed.